LIBRA RY OF C ONGRESS. 

Skelf ...... ,\s^^. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SCHOOL LAW 



TEMITOM OF WASHOGTON, 



PASSED BY THE 



LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 



AT ITS 



THIRTEENTH REaULAR SESSION, 



BEGUM" AHD HELD AT THE CITY OF OLTMPIA, THE SEAT OP 
GOVEKNMEWT, ON MONDAY, DEC. 4, 1865. 




THREE THOUSAND COPIES ORDERED PRINTED. 



OLYMPIA: 
T. F. Mcelroy, printer. 

1866. 



L J5z sz f 






SCHOOL LAW 



TERRITORY OF WASHOGTON. 



AN ACT 



ESTABLISHING A COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM EOR THE TERKITORY OF 

WASHINGTON. 

CHAPTER I. 

Sec. 1, School fund, how provided. 
Annual division of interest. 

2. Duty of county commissioners to levy annual tax for school 

purposes. 
Appropriation thereof. 

3. Fines, &c., to be added, to be apportioned as school fund. 

4. County auditor to report yearly tax, and clerk of district court 

and justices of the peace to report fines imposed, &c. 

Section 1. Be it enacted hy the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Washington, That the principal of all moneys accru- 
ing to this Territory from the sale of any lands heretofore given, 
or which may hereafter be given by the Congress of the United 
States for school purposes, shall constitute an irreducible fund, 
the interest accruing from which shall be annually divided 
among all the school districts in the Territory, proportionally to 
the number of children or youth in each, between the ages of 
four and twenty-one years, for the support of common schools 
in said districts, and for no other use or purpose whatever. 

Sec. 2. For the purpose of establishing and maintaining 



4 SCHOOL LAW. 

common schools, it shall be the duty of the county commission- 
ers of each county, to levy an annual tax of three mills on a dol- 
lar, on all taxable property of the county, as shown by the as- 
sessment rolls made by the county assessor for the same year, 
and to include the same in their warrant to the collector, and 
the said collector shall proceed to collect the said tax in the same 
manner as other county tax is collected, and the said money so 
collected shall be paid over to the county treasurer, to be appro- 
priated for the hire of school teachers in the several school 
districts, to be drawn in the manner hereinafter prescribed ; 
neither shall it be lawful for any county treasurer to receive 
county orders in payment for count}" school tax, nor to pay out 
any school money on county orders. 

Sec. 3. For the further support of common schools, there 
shall be set apart by the county treasurer, all moneys paid into 
the county treasury, arising from all fines for a breach of any 
law regulating licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors, or for 
the keeping of bowling alleys or billiard saloons, or of any penal 
laws of this Territory. Such moneys shall be paid into the 
count}" treasury, and be added to the yearly school fund raised 
by tax in each county, and divided in the same manner. 

Sec. 4. That it shall be the duty of the county auditor of 
each county, to report to the county superintendent of common 
schools, at least twenty days before the first Friday in Novem- 
ber of each year, the amount of school tax levied in their re- 
spective counties for that year, and that it be the duty of the 
clerk of the district court, at the close of every term thereof, to 
report to the superintendent the amount of fines imposed during 
said term of court ; and that it be the duty of all justices of the 
peace to report to the superintendent, at least twent}" days 
before the first Friday in November of each year, the amount of 
fines imposed and collected by them for the past year. 



SCHOOL LAW. 6 

CHAPTER 11. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDEDTS. 

Sec. 1. Election and term of office of county superintendent. 

2. To qualify. 
Oath to be filed. 

3. To divide county into districts. 

Keep a map, and lay off new and divide old districts. 

4. Notice of formation of district and proceedings thereon. 

5. Superintendent when to be at county seat to examine teachers. 
To give notice. 

His compensation. 

6. Examination of teachers. 

Certificates to be given, and may be revoked, when. 

7. Superintendent to visit schools yearly. 
To encourage education, &c. 

8. Annual report of superintendent. 

9. Annual apportionment of school fund to be made, when. 
Notice thereof to be given. 

Who excluded from apportionment. 

10. Distribution of school fund, how made. 

11. Compensation of superintendent. 

Sec. 1. There shall be elected by the legal voters of the 
respective counties, at the annual election, a county superintend- 
ent of common schools for each county, who shall hold his office 
for the term of three j^ears ; and in case of a vacancy occurring 
in said office by removal, death, or otherwise, the county com- 
missioners of each county be, and they are hereby authorized 
and directed to appoint a county school superintendent in all 
cases of vacancies in their respective counties, who shall hold 
his office and perform the duties of county school superintend- 
ent until his successor is elected and qualified according to law. 
The superintendent so appointed is hereby authorized and di- 
rected to receive district reports of scholars, &c., as by law 
required, and make the district apportionment of funds for the 
present year, and the county treasurer is hereby directed to pay 
the funds so apportioned, upon the order of said superintendent. 

Sec. 2. The superintendent shall qualify within ten days 
after notice of his election, by taking an oath to faithfully dis- 



6 SCHOOL LAW. 

charge the duties of his office, and to the best of his abiHty pro- 
mote the interest of education within his county ; which oath 
shall be in writing, and placed on file in the county clerk's 
office. 

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the superintendent to dis- 
trict the whole county, so that every resident of the county shall 
be included in some district ; and to divide such portion of his 
county as shall be inhabited, into convenient school districts ; to 
define the boundaries and numbers ; and to prepare and keep in 
his office a map of the districts of the county, upon which the 
lines and boundaries of each district shall be clearly defined ; he 
shall lay off new districts, or divide old ones, when the public 
good shall require it. 

Sec. 4. Whenever any school district shall be formed by 
the superintendent, it shall be his duty to prepare a notice in 
writing of the establishment of such district, describing its 
boundaries, and to deliver the same to some taxable inhabitant 
of such district, who shall have asked for the formation of the 
same. It shall be the duty of said inhabitant, within two weeks 
after the receipt of such notice, to notify the other inhabitants 
of the district of the time and place of the first district meet- 
ing, which time and place he shall fix by written notices, and 
which shall be posted up in three public places in the district, 
at least ten days previous to the time of meeting. In case the 
inhabitants fail to attend in sufficient number to do business as 
hereinafter directed, notice may be renewed at such times as may 
be thought proper. 

Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the county superintendent 
to be at the county seat on the third Friday and Saturday of 
May and November of each year, for the purpose of examining 
teachers, and for the transaction of other business; and he shall 
give ten days' public notice of the same, by posting up hand-bills 
or otherwise. And any person or district applying on different 
days for the transaction of such business, shall pay the superin- 
tendent a reasonable compensation for his trouble, not exceed- 
ing the sum of two dollars, and any teacher examined on a dif- 
ferent day shall pay the superintendent the sum of two dollars. 



SCHOOL LAW. 7 

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the superintendent to ex- 
amine all persons who wish to become teachers in his county ; 
he shall examine them in orthography, reading, writing, arith- 
metic, English grammar and geography ; and if he be of the 
opinion that the person examined is competent to teach said 
branches, and that he or she is of good moral character, he shall 
give such person a certificate, certifying that he or she is quali- 
fied to teach a common school in said county ; such certificate 
shall be for the term of one year only, and may be revoked 
sooner by the superintendent for good cause. But in the ex- 
amination of teachers, he may make a distinction according to 
qualification, granting a certificate of qualification to teach in 
any specified district, if the applicant therefor be qualified for 
the school of such district, and not a county certificate, which 
certificate so granted, shall only be for six^ionths, and may for 
good cause be sooner revoked. 

Sec. 7. The superintendent shall visit all the schools in 
his county, at least once a year ; he shall give such information 
and encouragement as he may think necessary, and endeavor to 
promote the introduction of a good and uniform system of 
school books throughout the county. 

Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of the superintendent to re- 
ceive the district reports hereinafter provided for, and keep 
them on file in his ofiice ; and he shall, on or before the first day 
of December of each year, make out from the district reports, 
a statement of the number of scholars in the county, the num- 
ber of school libraries, the number of school houses, the number 
of districts ; in how many districts a school has been kept in the 
past year ; what school books are principally used ; what pro- 
portion of all the scholars in the county have attended school 
for the past year, and the amount of money paid to teachers. 
This statement, together with such other information and sug- 
gestions as he may deem important to the cause of education, 
he shall file in his office, and may, if convenient, publish it in 
some newspaper in this Territory. 

Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of the superintendents, at the 
same time, to make an apportionment of the school fund in the 



3 SCHOOL LAW. 

county treasury among the several school districts in tlieir re- 
spective counties, in proportion to the number of persons in the 
district over the age of four and under tM^enty-one years, and 
certify the amount due to each district, which shall be drawn 
as hereinafter directed, and shall forthwith notify the clerks of the 
school districts of the amount due their respective districts. 
But he shall not include as entitled to receive any apportion- 
ment any non-resident attending at a boarding school, academy, 
charitable institution or lunatic asylum. 

Sec. 10. When the district shall have complied with the 
law, as hereinafter directed, it shall be the duty of the superin- 
tendent to issue orders on the county treasury in favor of the 
clerks of the districts for the amount of the school funds appropri- 
ated to each ; on the presentation of which order the treasurer 
of the county shall ^ay over to the clerks of the districts all 
moneys due the respective districts, and the clerks shall endorse 
on said order a receipt for so much as shall be paid thereon, and 
they shall also sign a duplicate receipt, which shall be deposited 
with the superintendent, who shall credit the treasury of the 
county therewith and charge the same to the proper district. 

Sec. 11. The said superintendent shall be allowed out of 
the county treasury, in compensation for his services, the sum of 
twenty-five dollars a year. The county commissioners may, in 
their discretion, if they think the services rendered demand it, 
increase his salary to any sum, not exceeding five hundred dol- 
lars a year : Provided, also, That a proper allowance shall be 
made in addition thereto for necessary books and stationery and 
for preparing of the map required by section three. 

CHAPTER m. 

OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

Sec. 1., School meeting to organize new districts may be called- 
What shall constitute a quorum. 

2. Pcwers of such meeting. 

3. Organization of meeting. 

Election of directors and their term of office. 

4. Further as to term of office of directors. 



SCHOOL LJlW. 9 

Sec. 5. Directors to qualify, oath to be filed. 

6. Duty of directors. 

7. Two directors a quorum. 

8. Directors to visit schools. 

To procure introduction of uniform school books. 

9. Election of district clerk, his term of office. 

10. His duties. 

11. Annual report of clerk, what to contain. 

12. Annual account of clerk to be read to meeting. 
To pay over funds to successor. 

Upon failure to do so, suit to be brought. 

13. Clerk to be treasurer of district. 

14. To retain money coming into his hands, subject alone to order 

of directors. 

15. Teachers to procure certificates, further duties. 

Sec. 1. A school meeting may be called at any time for 
the purpose of organizing a new district, as provided in section 
four, chapter two. No number less than five legal voters shall 
constitute a quorum to do business in any district meeting. 

Sec. 2. Such school meeting shall have power to do all 
necessary business the same as the regular annual school meet- 
ing would have. 

Sec. 3. Such meeting when assembled, shall organize by 
the appointment of a chairman and secretary. It shall then 
proceed by ballot to elect three directors. Of those so elected, 
the person having the highest number of votes shall hold his 
office for the term of three years, and the person having the' 
next highest number shall hold his office for two years, and the 
person next highest, one year, and each shall continue in office 
until his successor is elected and qualified. In case two or more 
persons of those so elected receive an equal number of votes, 
the duration of their term of office shall be determined by lot, 
in the presence of the chairman and secretary. 

Sec. 4. The term of office of a director not elected at the 
regular annual meeting, shall continue for the term of one, two 
or three years, as he may have been elected, from the next an- 
nual school meeting, unless such director shall be elected to fill 
a vacancy, in which case he shall continue in office for the unex- 
pired term; so that at every annual school meeting after the 
9, 



10 SCHOOL LAW. 

first, there shall be elected one school director for the term of 
three years. • 

Sec. 5. The directors shall qualify within ten days aftef 
their election, by taking an oath or affirmation faithfully to dis- 
charge the duties of the office to the best of their abilities, and 
to promote the interest of education within their district. This 
oath shall be in writing and filed with the clerk of the district. 

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the directors of every 
school district: 

1. To call special meetings of the district whenever they 
shall deem it necessary, and when a vacancy occurs by death, 
resignation or otherwise, the directors shall call a special meet- 
ing of the district to fill such vacancy. 

2. To procure from county auditor a list containing the 
names of the taxable inhabitants in the district, and the amount 
of district tax payable by each inhabitant set opposite his name. 

3. To annex to such tax list a warrant directed to the 
clerk of the district for the collection of the sums in such list 
mentioned, including such percentage for fees of clerk as they 
may deem just, not exceeding five per cent. 

4. To purchase or lease a site for the district school house 
as designated by a meeting of the district, and to build, hire or 
purchase, keep in repair and furnish such school house with 
necessary fuel and appendages, out of the funds collected and 
paid to the clerk for such purpose, and to have the custody and 
safe keeping of the district school house. 

5. To contract with and employ teachers; and they shall 
require a teacher to get a certificate from under the hand of the 
county superintendent, as provided for in section six, chapter 
two. No engagement with a teacher shall be valid so as to en- 
title any district to draw their apportionment of public money, 
unless such examination has been previously made. 

6. To give orders to the teachers on the district clerk for 
their wages. 

7. To discharge any school teacher for neglect of duty, or 
any cause that in their opinion renders his or her services un- 
profitable as a teacher, by first paying him or her for what time 
he or she may have been teaching. 



SCHOOL LAW. 11 

Sec. 7. Any two of said directors shall constitute a quo- 
rum to do business. 

Sec. 8. It shall be the duty of the directors to visit and 
examine the school or schools of their respective districts at 
least twice in each term. They shall endeavor, in connection 
with the county superintendent, to procure the introduction of 
a good, uniform system of school books in their district. 

CLEEKS. 

Sec. 9. The first annual school meeting shall also elect a 
district clerk, who shall continue in office for the term of three 
years. He shall qualify within ten days after his election, in 
the same manner as the directors, and give bond to the district 
directors in such sum as they may require, that he shall well 
and truly perform the duties of his office, and pay over all 
moneys coming into his hands by virtue of his office, as by law 
directed. If a clerk be elected to fill a vacancy, he shall con- 
tinue in office for the unexpired term; and if elected at the first 
meeting, not being the regular annual meeting, he shall continue 
in office three years from the next annual meeting. 

Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the district — 

1. To record the proceedings of his district in a book to 
be provided for that purpose by the district. 

2. To give notice of annual or special meetings. 

3. To procure a list of all residents in the district between 
the ages of four and twenty-one years, excepting those, if any, 
who are attending at boarding schools, academies, charitable in- 
stitutions or lunatic asylums. 

4. To give due notice, at least ten days before any tax 
that may be assessed shall be collected, by written or printed 
notices in three of the most public places in the district. 

5. To collect all district taxes which he shall be required 
by the warrant from the directors to collect, within the time 
limited in each warrant for its return; and he shall have the 
same authority as the county collector to enforce the collection 
of such tax, and he shall be allowed for collecting, such per- 
centage as the directors may deem proper. 



12 SCHOOL LAW. 

6. To retain a copy of all reports made to the county su- 
perintendent relating to the affairs of the district. 

Sec. 11. It shall be the duty of the clerk to furnish the 
county superintendent, within ten days after the first Friday in 
November of each year, a report containing the number and 
names of persons in his district over four and under twenty-one 
years of age; excepting those who may be attending at boarding 
schools, academies, charitable institutions or lunatic asylums; 
how long a school has been kept in his district by a qualified 
teacher during the past year; what school books are principally 
used; what proportion of the scholars in the district have at- 
tended school, and the amount of money paid to teachers, or 
otherwise expended. 

Sec. 12. The clerk of each district shall, at the close of 
each year of his office, make out in writing a just and true ac- 
count of all moneys received by him for the use of the district, 
and the manner in which the same shall have been expended, 
which account shall be read at the annual district meeting. The 
clerk shall pay over all moneys remaining in his hands belong- 
ing to the district to his successor, when his successor has 
legally qualified, and upon a refusal or neglect so to do, the 
directors shall forthwith bring suit upon his bond. 

Sec. 13. District clerks shall be treasurers of their re- 
spective districts. 

Sec. 14. All moneys coming into the hands of the district 
clerks shall remain in the hands of such clerk or clerks, subject 
to the order of the directors, and shall not be paid out in any 
other way. 

TEACHEES. 

Sec. 15. It shall be the duty of every teacher of a com- 
mon school to procure a certificate of qualification and good 
moral character, before entering on the duties of a teacher. 
It shall be his duty to keep a register of the children attending 
school, their age, and the time when they begin, the time they 
continue, and of their daily attendance; and with the same he 
shall give a list of the text-books principally used in his school , 



SCHOOL LAW. 13 

and said register and list of books shall be in duplicate, and filed 
with the clerk of the district at the close of every term, prop- 
erly certified by the teacher; the one copy for the use of the 
clerk and the other shall by the clerk be furnished to the county 
superintendent with his annual report. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MISCELLANEOUS PEOVISIONS. 

Sec. 1. Minutes of first meeting by whom signed, and by "whom and 
where kept. 
^ 2. Who to be chairman and secretary of meeting. 

3. Meeting may alter, repeal, &c., their proceedings. 

4. District meetings may levy tax. 

5. New districts failing to organize or report, not entitled to school 

funds. 
Proviso. 

6. Funds to be apportioned to organized districts only. 

7. When a district shall be allowed to draw the fund. 

8. When superintendent to issue order for funds of a district in 

favor of clerk thereof. 

9. Provision where district has less than sixteen scholars between 

ages of four and twenty-one, and is not able to support a 
school. 

10. An organized district shall be a body corporate, its powers. 
Duty of directors to prosecute and defend. 

11. Scholars not in district may attend school with or without charge, 

when. 
Provision as to scholars attending school out of their own 
district. 

12. Teacher at end of each term to make a certificate relative to 

attendance of scholars not belonging to district. 

13. Clerk of district where scholars reside, upon presentation of 

certificates, to pay the parents of such scholars the apportion- 
ment due them. 

14. When certificate to be presented to superintendent. 

15. Scholar thus receiving his portion, not entitled to further benefit 

until after next annual apportionment. 

16. When parents, &c., may be assessed for their portion of neces- 

sary expenses of school. 

17. For what purpose and when districts may levy a tax. 



14 SCHOOL LAW. 

Sk(!. Ifi. Notices of meeting to state purpose of tax. 

19. Assessment of property of non-resident holders. 

20. Directors miiy add a per centum to remunerate the clerk as 

collector. 
I'ercentag'e when to bo deducted. 

21. Meetings to he hold annually. 
Notice thereof vvliat to state, &c. 

22. Who shall he allowed to vote at meeting. 

rtu'NouH liahlc! to Hcliool tax only voters in selecting site or levy- 
ing special tax. 

23. Meeting may adjourn from day to day. 

24. By a majority vote meeting may levy a tax. 

25. Taxes for erection of scliool houses may be paid in labor. 
2G. Holding other oflico not to disqualify superintendent, director 

or clerk. 

27. A librarian to bo a])p()intod, by whom and when. 

28. Certain jx'rsons antliori/od to administer oaths under this act. 

29. Tliis act not to ail'oct the disposition of funds heretofore sot 

a[)art. 

30. Failure of clerk to report, when no cause of forfeiture of fund. 

31. Districts failing to keep uj) organization, to forfeit funds, 

exce])tion. 

32. Proceedings u])on changing the boundaries of districts. 

33. Jh. 

Skh. 1. '^^riio mimili^M df the fii'sli scliool in(H>,liii<;- sliall bo 
tiip^iu'd Ity the cliiuriiiiiii wild sccrolary and dclivored (o llu; clerk 
of t-lii^ disl.ricl, who shall lilc the s;uiu*- in liis ollice. 

Sko. "1. Ill all school iiioctiugs, the director Avhose term of 
oHIce sliiill llrsi, expire, shidl act as cliainnan, and tho clerk of 
the district sli:dl act as secretary. 

Sko. 3. .Districts shall have ])ower to repciil, alter or 
modily tlieir |>roi'e(Mlini;'s IVoin time to time as occasion ma}' re- 
qnii'O. 

Sioc. '1. Districti iue(>tin,u;s U^^-ally called sliall have ])o\vor 
to levy a, tax upon llu^ property of tho district for any purpose 
whatever connected with and for tho benefit of schools, and tho 
promotion of education in tho district, subject to the restrictions 
heri'iiKifter pro\ided. 

Skc. 5. Any new district failing to oro-anizo and report to 
tho county superintendent the number of children over four and 



SCHOOL LAW. 15 

under twcnty-oiio yt^ars of a!J,'o in said disirirl, wilhin (en diiy^i 
after the firt^t Friday in NovcmbcM-, or any disti-ici havinij; Ikhmi 
or<>'anizod for the term of one 3'ear or more, failing to report to 
tlie c'onnty snpoi'intendent as re(]uirod in section eleven of the 
chapter entitled " flerks " in this act, shall not. bo iMitillod to 
any portion of the county school finul tor lh(> yca,i-: Provided^ 
That if the clerk of any school district shall Tail to make such 
report, any three electors of such district may ma.ko such report, 
vorifietl on oath, and th(^ county snperinliMith'nt shall receive it 
the same as if made by the clerk. 

Sec. (5. The county superintendent shall apportion all the 
county school fund for that year anionji,- those districts only 
which have organized and reported act-ording to hivv. 

Sec. 7. No district shall bo allowed to di'aw its appor- 
tioned county school fund from the ti'casuiy until it shall satisfy 
the county superintendent that a. scIkioI has been ke[)t. in the 
district by a (pialilied teacher for the last tluH'e months, (>\cept 
as hereiiiiifter provid(^d. 

Sec. 8. When the clerk oC any school district shall satisfy 
tlie county su[)erintendent that a school has actuall)' been kept 
hy a qualified teacher, as providcul for in the preceding section, 
the superintendent shall issue an order to th(> county treasui'cr 
in favor of the clerk of such disti-ict for its a|)portionment of 
county school funds in tiu^ ti-easiiry (o thc! ci-edit oi' siu'h district. 

Sec. II. Districts having less than twenty minors over lour 
years of age, may, by organizing and reiiorling to the superin- 
tendent according to law, draw their ])roi)ortion t)!" tlie school 
money without being rc^piii-ed to co!n|ily wilh the provisions of 
the school law any furthei- than the said organization and report 
is concerned. And in such disti'icts five legal voters shall con- 
stitute a quorum to do business; and it shall be the duty of tho' 
clerk of such district to let out all (H)unty scJiool IVnid so received 
at interest, for the use of the district, on good security, until 
such time as it may be required for school purj)Oses in said dis- 
trict. The clerk of the district and his securities shall be re- 
sponsible for such money. 

Sec. 10. When a district is organized, it shaJl be to all in- 



1(3 SCHOOL LAW. 

tents and purposes a body corporate, capable of suing and being 
sued, and fully competent to transact all business appertaining 
to schools or school houses in their own districts; and it shall be 
the duty of the directors to prosecute or defend any demands 
for or against their district, and notice shall be served upon one 
of the directors of any suit brought against a district. 

Sec. 11. The directors of any district may permit scholars 
living out of the district to attend school, with or without charge, 
as they may deem proper: Provided, There be no school in 
their own district, and such scholar or scholars so sent to school 
out of their district, shall be entitled to their equal proportion 
of the public school funds belonging to their district, the same 
as if they had gone to school in their own district. 

Sec. 12. It shall be the duty of every teacher of a district 
school, in addition to what is required by section fifteen, chap- 
ter three, to make out, at the end of every term, a certificate in 
reference to the attendance of each and every scholar not be- 
longing to the district, showing the time they began and con- 
tinued, as well as the number of days in attendance; which cer- 
tificate shall be given to the parents or guardians of said 
scholar or scholars. 

Sec. 13. Upon the presentation of such certificate to the 
clerk of the district in which such scholar or scholars reside, the 
clerk shall pay to said parents or guardians the apportionment 
due them, out of the fund belonging to said district, taking their 
receipt for the same, which receipt shall be endorsed on said 
certificate, showing the amount actually received, and signed by 
the party receiving the money; and said certificate so endorsed 
shall be a sufficient voucher to the credit of the clerk in making 
his settlement with the directors, or in paying over to his suc- 
cessors the funds belonging to said district. 

Sec. 14. When the clerk of any such school district shall 
have failed to draw from the county treasury the apportionment 
for said district, either by reason of not complying with the re- 
quirements of section seven of this chapter, or otherwise, then 
the certificate shall be presented to the county superintendent, 
who shall issue an order on the county treasurer in favor of the 



SCHOOL LAW. 17 

person or persons entitled to receive the same, and a receipt in 
due form shall be given to the treasurer for the amount paid, 
the duplicate of which shall be endorsed on the certificate in the 
hands of the superintendent, who shall credit the treasury of the 
county therewith and charge the same to the proper district, in 
the same manner as when paid to the clerk, according to section 
ten, chapter two. 

Sec. 15. Any scholar having thus received his or her 
portion of school money, cannot be entitled to any further ben- 
efit out of the fund of said district in case of a school being 
taught therein, until after the next annual apportionment is 
made. 

Sec. 16. It shall be competent for the directors in any 
district where it may be required, to assess upon the parents or 
guardians of the children attending the school, their portion of 
the necessary expenses of sustaining the school, in the way of 
tuition, fuel, &c., in proportion to the number of scholars sent by 
each, and time of attendance; but in ail cases the directors shall 
first endeavor to raise the amount required by voluntary sub- 
scription. 

Sec. 17. Any district may levy a tax for any of the follow- 
ing purposes : To purchase a suitable site for the erection of a 
school house, — the building or repairing of the same, — the pur- 
chase or increase of a district library, or maps, globes or other 
apparatus for the use of said district or school; but no district 
shall levy any tax for any of these purposes until the directors 
shall have sought to obtain the amount required by voluntary 
subscriptions; and no money shall be expended by the directors 
or clerk for any other purpose than that for which it was 
raised. 

Sec. 18. In all cases when a tax is to be levied, it shall be 
stated in the notices given of the meeting for Avhat purpose or 
purposes the tax is to be levied. 

Sec. 19. The directors may assess, for any of the objects 
named in section seventeen, the property of non-resident holders 
in any amount they may deem necessary, without calling a meet- 
ing of the district for that purpose, where the inhabitants 
3 



18 SCHOOL LAW. 

thereof agree by voluntary subscription to raise the amount re- 
quired — said assessment not to exceed the average per centum 
of the subscriptions made by the inhabitants of the district; but 
if a district meeting be held to levy a tax on all the taxable 
property in the district, the property of non-residents shall be 
assessed in equal proportion with the rest, according to the val- 
uation ma.de for the assessment of county taxes. 

Sec. 20. The directors may add such a per centum, not 
exceeding five, as they may deem requisite to remunerate the 
clerk for his services as collector, but the amount shall be speci- 
fied and added as a separate item in the schedule or account of 
taxes so levied or assessed, and where any person shall pay the 
same within ten days after the notice of such tax is made public 
by the clerk, in accordance with the fourth clause of section ten 
of chapter three, the percentage shall be deducted, but in all 
other cases it shall be collected. 

Sec. 2L There shall be an annual school meeting held in 
each district upon the first Friday in November; and notice of 
all annual or special meetings shall be in writing, signed by the 
directors or the clerk of the district, and shall state the object 
for which the meeting is called, and shall be posted up in three 
public places in the district at least six daj's previous to the 
holding of such meeting. 

Sec. 22. Every white male inhabitant over the age of 
twenty-one years, who shall have resided in any school district 
for three months immediately preceding any district meeting, or 
who shall have paid, or be liable to pay any tax except road tax 
in said district, shall be a legal voter at any school meeting, and 
no other person shall be allowed to vote, and in the selection of 
a site for the school house, or for raising a tax, no person shall 
be allowed to vote except persons liable to pay a school tax. 

Sec. 23. Any school meeting shall have power to adjourn 
from day to day as occasion may require. 

Sec. 24. A school meeting legally called shall have power, 
by the vote of a majority present, to levy a tax on all taxable 
property in the district. 

Sec. 25. The tax payers may, with the consent of the 



SCHOOL LAW. 19 

directors of their district, perform by labor their portion of 
taxation for the erection of school houses, and shall be so re- 
turned by the clerk of said district. 

Sec. 26. No person shall be disqualified for the office of 
county superintendent, district director or clerk, on account of 
holding any other office within the Territory at the same time. 

Sec. 27. It shall be the duty of the directors to appoint a 
suitable person for librarian when the district shall have pro- 
cured a library. 

Sec. 28. School superintendents, directors and clerks, shall 
be competent to administer oaths or affirmations in any case oc- 
curring under the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 29. Where in any county any of the moneys men- 
tioned in chapter one, section three, of this act, are by existing 
laws set apart to any other fund, or for any other purpose, this 
act shall not be so construed as to affect the disposition of said 
funds so set apart. 

Sec. 30. Failure of a clerk to make out his report in proper 
time shall not work a forfeiture of the apportionment to his dis- 
trict, if the report shall reach the superintendent before he ap- 
portions the fund. 

Sec. 31. No order of the superintendent shall be drawn 
upon the county treasurer in favor of any district which fails to 
have or keep up its organization; and any district having been for 
three years recognized as an organized district, by the inhabi- 
tants of the same, and by the superintendent, shall, so long as 
it complies with the forms of law, be to all intents for the pur- 
poses of this act a legal district. 

Sec. 32. Any person or persons asking any action of the 
superintendent which shall affect the boundaries of any district, 
shall notify the clerk of the said district in writing of his intention 
to ask for the same, stating what action is or will be asked, and 
the time — not less than ten days — when the same will be heard, 
and shall file a certified copy of said writing with the superin- 
tendent. 

Sec. 33. When satisfied such notice has been given, the 
superintendent shall proceed to examine the case, unless for 



20 SCHOOL LAW. 

good reason further time is asked by either part}^, or in the ab- 
sence of either party he may consider substantial justice cannot 
be done, in which case he may set some future time for its consid- 
eration. 

CHAPTER Y. 

AS TO MONEYS AEISING FROM FINES AND PENALTIES PAYABLE TO 

SCHOOL FUND. 

Sec. 1. The superintendent to enforce collection of all fines, &c., paya- 
able to school fund. 
Superintendent to preserve school lands from trespass. 
Fines and penalties apportioned as other school funds. 

2. Penalty for trespass on school lands. 

3. Mode of procedure in the paying over of fines, &c. 

4. Penalty for sheriff or clerk failing to pay over money collected 

on execution. 

5. Proceeds of sale of estrays. 

6. Deposits -with county treasurer under act relative to unclaimed 

property. 

7. Proceeds of sale of lost goods, and as to lost money. 

8. Penalty for a finder failing to advertise money or property found. 

9. Penalty against owners of vicious or dangerous cattle. 

Sec. 1. The superintendent shall, in the name of the 
county, collect, or cause to be collected, all monej^s due the 
school fund from fines or from any other source in his county; 
and until the legislature shall make some provision for the dis- 
posal of the school lands given by Congress to the Territory for 
school purposes, it shall be the duty of the superintendent to 
preserve said lands from injury and trespass; and when it shall 
come to his knowledge that any trespass has been committed on 
such lands, he shall make complaint of the same before the 
grand jury of the proper county, at the first regular term of 
court after he has obtained a knowledge of such trespass; and 
all fines and other moneys thus collected shall be paid over to 
the treasurer of the county for the use of common schools and 
divided in said county in the same manner as other school funds. 

Sec. 2. Any person trespassing upon or injuring the school 
lands, as mentioned in the preceding section, shall be liable to 
be indicted for the same, and upon conviction shall be punished 



SCHOOL LAW. 21 

by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or 
by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars. 

Sec. 3. All fines imposed on any person or persons by 
the provisions of any act imposing fines for violation of laws of 
this Territory, when the same shall be collected, shall be paid 
by the officer collecting the same, to the county treasurer as 
school funds of the county where such conviction shall have 
been had, who shall give duplicate receipts therefor, one of 
which shall be filed with the county auditor; and all officers re- 
fusing or neglecting to pay over any fines within one month 
after they shall have been received, shall, upon conviction 
thereof, be fined in four-fold the amount of such fines so re- 
ceived, which said fine may be collected in any court having 
jurisdiction. 

Sec. 4. No sheriff shall retain any moneys collected on ex- 
ecution more than twenty days before paying the same to the 
clerk of the court who issues the writ, under penalty of twenty 
per cent, on the amount collected, to be paid by the sheriff, the 
one-half to the party to whom the judgment is payable, and the 
other half to the county commissioners of the county wherein 
the action was brought, for the use of the school fund of the 
county. And the clerk shall, immediately after the receipt of 
any moneys collected on any judgment, notify the party to whom 
the same is payable, and pay over the amount to the said party on 
demand. On failure to so notify and pay over, (without reasona- 
ble cause shown for delay) the clerk shall forfeit and pay the 
same penalty to the same parties as is above prescribed for the 
sheriff. 

Sec. 5. If the owner or person entitled to the possession 
of any stray shall not appear and make out his title thereto and 
pay the charges thereon, within one year from the time when the 
notice is filed with the county clerk, as is provided in the fourth 
section of " an act relative to estrays," passed February first, 
eighteen hundred and sixty, such stray shall be sold at the re- 
quest of the finder, by any constable of the precinct, at public 
auction, upon first giving public notice thereof, in writing, by 
posting up the same in three of the most public places in said 



22 SCHOOL LAW. 

precinct, at least ten days before such sale, and the finder may 
bid therefor at such sale; and after deducting all the lawful 
charges of the finder as aforesaid, and the fees of the constable, 
which shall be the same as upon a sale on execution, one-half of 
the remaining proceeds of such sale shall be deposited in the 
treasury of the county, to be applied to the common school fund 
of said county, the other half shall belong to the finder. 

Sec. 6. Any money that shall be deposited with any 
county treasurer under the provisions of an act entitled " an act 
relative to unclaimed property," which shall not be claimed by 
the owner thereof, or his legal representative, within five years, 
the same shall belong to the count}^, and shall be applied to the 
common school fund of said county. 

Sec. 7. If the owner of any lost money or goods shall fail 
to appear within one year and make out his right thereto, then 
the finder of such lost money or goods shall pay one-half of the 
value thereof, after deducting all legal charges, to the treasurer 
of the county for school purposes; and in case such finder shall 
neglect to pay the same on demand, after the expiration of the 
time aforesaid, the same may be sued for and recovered by the 
said treasurer in the name of the county, for school purposes. 

Sec. 8. If any finder of lost money or goods of the value 
of five dollars or upwards, shall neglect to give notice of the same, 
and otherwise to comply with the provisions of "an act in relation 
to lost money or goods," he shall be liable for the full value of 
such money or goods, one-half to the use of the county for school 
purposes, and the other half to the use of the person who shall 
sue for the same, and shall also be responsible to the owner for 
such lost money or goods. 

Sec. 9. That any person or persons who own or are the 
owners of dangerous or vicious cattle, which animal or animals 
are known to endanger the safety of persons traveling through 
neighborhoods, by their dangerous and vicious disposition, such 
person or persons having twelve hours' notice of the dangerous 
disposition of such animal or animals, and shall neglect or refuse 
eifectually to prevent such cattle from disturbing the peace and 
safety of the neighborhood where such animals may range, such 



SCHOOL LAW. 23 

owner or owners shall be liable to a fine of not less than five 
dollars nor more than fifty dollars, which may be recovered 
before any justice of the peace of the county, with costs of suit, 
for the use of the school fund. 

CHAPTER VI. 

REPEALING AND SAVING CLAUSES. 

Sec. 1. Repealing previous acts. 

2. Excepting certain counties in which old law continues in force. 

3. When act to take effect. 

Sec. 1. All acts and parts of acts conflicting with any of the 

provisions of this act, be and the same are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 2. This act shall not apply to the counties of Kitsap, 

Pierce, Claim and Island; and the acts and parts of acts repealed 

by section one of this chapter, shall be and remain in force in the 

counties named in this section. 

Sec. 3. This act to take effect and be in force from and 

after its passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 19, 1866. 

EDWARD ELDRIDGE, 

Sjoeaker of the House of Representatives. 

Passed the Council January 18, 1866. 

HARVEY K. HINE3, 

President of the Council. 
Approved January 27, 1866. 

WILLIAM PICKERING, 

Governor of the Territory of Washington. 




019 748 512 7 



